The claim of "mandate" by the winners seems a bit thin, since only 21% of the electorate voted for our new Governor (distressingly, 64% didn't vote at all). Nevertheless, we congratulate Governor-elect Bob McDonnell on his victory, earned by an organized and disciplined campaign, with positions well communicated. The question now becomes: what policies will he advance? Here Purple's jury is still out. Will McDonnell work across the aisle to find consensus with moderates of both parties, as he has hinted, or will he take the election as a mandate to pursue the right wing agenda of his Party's "base," as Republican leaders may insist.

The other day I received a telephone call from a well-spoken woman asking me to participate in a survey. I said "yes." She then read me a Newt Gingrich diatribe accusing "liberals" in general and Speaker Pelosi in particular of deliberately trying to destroy the country. This reading was followed by a pitch for Gingrich's new book. Angered by this non-constructive approach, I blew up at her. She hung up. I quickly saw that I had now done my bit to divide the country, just as she was doing. The better course would have been to say, politely, "I don't agree," and explain why.

This experience explains why Bob McDonnell may have difficulty moving to the center; his Party leadership is still using fear and hate to excite voters and paralyze Washington, hoping that nothing constructive gets done, Obama gets blamed, and the Republicans, responsible for eight recent years creating the mess, sweep back into power in 2010. Purple wishes Bob McDonnell well if he goes against this tide, and works for Virginia, rather than just his Party's extremists. But it will be hard.

In addressing issues such as climate change he must put science ahead of ideology and wishful thinking. To untangle transportation he will need to call on experts to analyze the problems in detail, develop engineering solutions, and find money - probably including higher taxes - to fund the needed improvements, just as Creigh Deeds proposed. And he must address education, where Virginia, like the rest of America, is jeopardizing its future by cutting back support at all levels to avoid raising taxes.

None of the above should suggest that Purple is happy with the Democrats. The Republicans are rightly concerned about the growing national debt, though not very specific about how to rein in its greatest component, rising health care costs. The Democrats, in urging universal health care coverage (a worthy goal), are bypassing the need to change the current system, and its perverse incentives to spend too much, before expanding it. Both sides talk past each other as they satisfy their Party's activists and the lobbyists on whom they depend for campaign contributions. The national interest is ignored.

That takes us back to our first paragraph. When 64% of voters are uninvolved, the selection of candidates, and thus public policies, are left to the ideologues of each party. The resulting food fight between extremists is no way to govern. In this coming season of Advent we pray that Governor-elect McDonnell and our divided legislature can find a common star to guide Virginia. In that hope, we wish them well.